Six rungs fashion sturdy fiscal ladder

Anytime is a good time to review your financial situation.

Whether it’s before or after tax time, the end of the year or the beginning of the year, your birthday or your wedding anniversary, before you go on a vacation or after you’ve gone on a holiday spending spree.

If you don’t know where you are, you can’t know how far you still have to go to achieve your goals.

The first step toward achieving fiscal stability is to review your financial situation and your economic targets. Are you where you set out to be when you last reviewed your plan? Where do you want to be in another year? In another five years?

The 22,000-member Financial Planning Association points out that this doesn’t have to be a rigid formalized survey of your stocks and bonds, income property, retirement programs, bank and creditunion accounts or whatever else you list as assets. A pad and pencil will do. And include your spouse or other family members — aging parents, for example — who have a stake in your financial future.

Brainstorm your wishes and wants. Write them down. Don’t make any judgements. The idea is to focus on the future.

The next step is to spend less than you earn. This is a foolproof way to build wealth. Establishing a monthly budget does not require actuarial acumen. It does demand some attention, however.

Your first act here is to cut expenses: one less gallon of ice cream a month or seeking out generic brands when shopping.

Then look for ways to regularly invest these savings. Forget the market’s machinations. Start small, perhaps with a mutual fund, and keep on saving and investing. Create and maintain the habit.

Step No. 4 is to make certain you establish some sort of retirement fund, even if you’re already retired. If you’re retired and you’ve established such a fund, you’re way ahead of the game and the steps cited here should bolster your resolve to continue reinforcing the rungs of your financial ladder.

Now write a will. Update it, if you already have one. Despite the simplicity of this most-basic foundation for estate planning, less than half of the population has a will.

Finally, go over your insurance coverage. And not just life insur- ance but all policies that can help you weather a financial disaster — health, disability, homeowner’s, renter’s, liability, auto and long- term-care insurance. After you’ve established these rungs on your step-ladder to financial stability, you’ll see the sense of each and look forward to your next review. Through all this, you might also consider building a strong team to support that ladder. You should already have an insurance agent you trust so add a financial planner and tax preparer.